Mother of Luis Partee, 19, says her son was shot and run over by strangers following a friend's birthday party

Dave Odette | The Grand Rapids PressPolice investigate the homicide near Town and Country Mall on Kalamazoo.

The mother of 19-year-old Luis Partee, shot while leaving a friend’s 16th birthday party Saturday morning and then killed after being run over by a car, is struggling to understand how her son was so violently attacked by men she says were strangers.

Melissa Partee, 39, of Wyoming, said her son was leaving a friend’s birthday party at the Youth Among Us hall on Kalamazoo Avenue SE near Langley Street when a group of men outside “jumped” Luis’ brother, Jesse Partee, 20.

“He went and picked up his brother off the ground and these guys started shooting,” Melissa Partee said, recalling information she gathered from a group of others who were in the parking lot at the time.

While running, both were struck by a white car occupied by some of the men who had been involved in the 2 a.m. fight, Partee said. Another vehicle, possibly a white SUV, followed close behind.

She later learned Luis was killed after being shot in the hip and dragged by the vehicle. Her other son, Jesse, suffered a fractured hand and swollen jaw after he was struck by the same vehicle from behind. Two other friends were also injured, she said.

“There’s a possibility he could have survived when he was shot, but they pretty much took that when they ran him down,” Melissa Partee said of Luis Saturday afternoon, fighting back tears.

Partee was told by police the men may have been gang members. Her son, she said, had never been part of a gang.

Luis Partee, 19

The boys ran across the parking lot of the Town and Country Mall at Kalamazoo Avenue and Langley toward an Admiral gas station nearby.
He graduated from Godwin Heights High School in May, where he played basketball all four years and helped coach a middle school boys basketball team.

He battled a broken leg that left him bedridden for weeks, she said, and he still graduated on time. Luis Partee planned to move to California in January to attend college and someday become a teacher.

“He was very excited about going to school,” Melissa Partee said. “He loved his family. He loved messing around with his brothers and sisters.”

The Partee family has started a memorial fund at Lake Michigan Credit Union in Luis Chavez Partee’s name to help cover burial costs.